Hikers needed for Mountain-to-Sea Trail routes

Hikers are needed to hike proposed Mountain-to-Sea Trail routes in Jackson and Swain counties in and give feedback about the routes.

Two meetings to give information about the routes, answer questions, and receive input will be held at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 3, and 1 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 4, by the Friends of the Mountains-to-sea Trail.

Trail volunteers are trying to solve a dilemma with a short missing link of the trail through the far western portion of the state, primarily between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Waterrock Knob area on the Haywood-Jackson line of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Originally, the trail was proposed to parallel the Blue Ridge Parkway after leaving the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. However, the Parkway owns almost no land in that area where it crosses the Cherokee Reservation, and a workable route could not be located. Several potential alternative trail routes have been drawn and many interesting routes were proposed.